Other health problems - related?

[kim55]

I am 55 years old. While not officially diagnosed, I have had the symptoms of HFI all my life. I spend hours in the grocery store, reading ingredient lists and rejecting foods that list sugar, but I still choose many foods by whether I have noticed them making me sick. So I should probably have my liver checked, but I am interested in knowing what other conditions could be related to the HFI.

I am fat (obese). I think part of the reason is that I binge on dairy products and protein whenever I feel lousy or tired. As a young adult I once went on a three-week vacation where I could not get milk to drink and I lost two dress sizes. Unfortunately, I gained them back, and I also gained a huge amount of weight during my second pregnancy 19 years ago. I have never been able to take off this weight, mostly because I would rather eat and stay fat than feel as bad as I do on a supposedly "healthy" diet.

I also have problems with allergies and inflammation. I see a doctor and take shots for the allergies, but I have developed joint problems, which worsen if I do not get enough sleep, and my doctor said he had never seen anyone whose feet swelled as much as mine after surgery. They also swell a lot after a long day of standing at work.

I noticed someone also commenting here on how fructose affects serotonin levels. I have been diagnosed with ADD (but I don't take meds for it, they gave me chest pains) and I went through a period of forgetfulness and depression. (Still forgetful, lousy memory.) My son has inherited the ADD and I think my dad had it--my parents divorced when I was young so I don't have that half of my family history.

Do any of the rest of you share any of these conditions? Do you think they could be related to HFI? In my experience, people with HFI understand the condition far better than doctors, so I'd like to know what you think.

[colormist]

Getting off fructose entirely will completely help with the powerless binges. The only time I've felt the need (definite need, not a want or desire) to binge was when I was overcoming an accidental fructose ingestion and my blood sugar was plummeting. I also have huge issues with being able to exercise (due to blood sugar plummeting and getting a need to binge 15 minutes into exercising). It's still really hard to lose weight. The only way I seem to lose it is by not eating--which is not healthy. Exercise (for me at least) just means I build massive amounts of muscles. I would make a great body builder.

I have carpal tunnel. Not sure if this is due to using a computer 10 hours a day and knitting 2 hours while watching TV or if it has something to do with the diet. I recently discovered I have spring allergies (probably tree pollen). They hit right when my birthday rolls around. I thought for the longest time that I just got the flu really late in the season.

Either I don't have ADD or I have managed to cope. I have problems focusing (mostly due to blood sugar dropping or too much stimulus) and have to force myself to multitask in order to listen. I spent the last year knitting in meetings in order to pay attention to the conversation. Otherwise I would doodle or destroy an ink pen--my fingers have to be busy to keep my mind focused.

[susan]

Cholesterol
I need suggestions about how to reduce the bad cholesterol, or at least get the good and bad in better balance.

[christopher]

I have been diagnosed with ADD and do use medicine for it, well, at least from time to time.

I have definitely noticed the effect from fructose on serotonin levels. I feel like I have been having a low grade depression pretty much all my life, but it turned a lot worse a few years ago and turned into a full blown depression that I still have bouts of problems with. I believe my more troublesome depression began a few years ago (along with other health issues - like exercise intolerance) was ironically when I quit using "chew", or "snus" as it is called in the Scandinavian countries. It´s a smokeless tobacco type similar to "chew" or "dip" in america. To be more precise my issues weren´t so much from quitting the tobacco, but switching it out for a sugarfree gum containing sorbitol.

Just last week I slipped up and ate some nuts and didn´t mind my diet as vigilantly as I have been, and I was rewarded with 2-3 days of being very depressed.

[colormist]

Jan 29, 2016 21:09:12 GMT -5 susan said:

Cholesterol
I need suggestions about how to reduce the bad cholesterol, or at least get the good and bad in better balance.

Not a good expert reference on this, but I can tell you what helped my sister-in-law (who does not have HFI, but has a family history of high cholesterol). She first used Lipitor, which worked amazingly well, but she had to come off it because of a really bad side effect. I don't recall what it was specifically--something like her blood pressure increased dangerously.

Then she switched to a low carb diet--which amazingly had the same effect. This was the same diet that resulted in me having to remove my gallbladder, so I'm not sure I can recommend it if you still have a gallbladder.

After that, she went vegan. Again, great results, but I really can't recommend being vegan to someone with HFI.

I'm afraid I'm not much help.

Is medication not an option right now?

[jenni]

I have a question about said binging with fructose consumption: I have had the urge to eat /binge since yesterday, and I haven't had that in a while... First of all I need to mention that I can't sleep if my blood sugar is low, and need to eat right before bed if there is any hope of sleeping, if I don't I will lie awake for hours or when If by some miracle I can sleep without eating I wake up bloated (? Anyone else?). Anyway yesterday I woke up after not eating before bed the night before and was bloated and I made buckwheat pancakes for breakfast (just buckwheat and egg and water and baking soda) and ate them with some goat cheese. The rest of the day I felt starving and had the urge to binge/eat anything I could find! Could it be the whole grain in the buckwheat? I ended up having a spoonful of peanut butter (natural no sugar kind) later in the day which made it worse and then had quinoa for dinner which I think made it even worse as I still felt starving and bingey/ hypoglycemic... This morning I looked on the quinoa bag and turns out there is 4 g of sugar per serving. Does anyone else get this with buckwheat or other whole grains?
Thanks!!!

[colormist]

Whole wheat has fructose. I would presume buckwheat would as well. I'm sure you know peanuts also have fructose in them. Both of those together would have definitely brought on the binges. I haven't tried quinoa yet, so I'm not sure about that one. Some sugars are safe (lactose, glucose), so you can't always count on the label nutritional breakdown. Of course, if those sugars were of the fructose family, then they're definitely not safe.

[christopher]

Feb 1, 2016 14:29:36 GMT -5 colormist said:

Then she switched to a low carb diet--which amazingly had the same effect. This was the same diet that resulted in me having to remove my gallbladder, so I'm not sure I can recommend it if you still have a gallbladder.

First off, I am sorry to hear you had such a bad experience from doing low carb! I have heard of people having issues with their gall bladder doing LCHF before as well, but not having to remove it due to the diet. That sounds freaky. I eat LCFH myself and I have no issues with it. Did you follow the diet for a long time before you started having problems with it? 

Also, I believe I have read about people without a gall bladder being able to still follow the diet. Do you have any idea as for the more specific reason why you did not tolerate the diet? 

To all: 
I do believe that low carb high fat might be a great option for a lot of people with metabolic issues, HFI included. But, it is not for everyone, and having metabolic disorders makes it all the more important to research the topic very thoroughly beforehand and having a doctor who is understanding and knowledgable about the diet. There are quite a few pitfalls in its implementation even without having other health issues to consider, so it might be a good idea to get help from an expert on metabolism to implement such a diet. As always, talk to your doctor!

kim55: 
If you feel like loosing weight and you really love your dairy products, I would strongly recommend you look into the low carb diet, or perhaps even the keto-diet. They are basically the same, but people mix up the terminology a litte. A ketogenic diet ("keto") is a low carb diet, but a low carb diet might not be a ketogenic diet. Most people agree that "keto" or ketogenic diets are those that induce the metabolic state called ketosis. Usually these diets are VERY low in carbs, usually less than 20 grams/day. As such keto is a type of low carb diet, or rather, very low carb diet. Diets that are too high in carbs will not induce ketosis, but it might still be quite low in carbs.

I know that this kind of diet is used to treat people who are very obese and many have great results. It is also used as a medical diet for those with treatment resistant epilepsy. I personally follow a ketogenic diet and really like it. If you would like to read up on the subject I would suggest you start by looking over this free introduction, made by a swedish doctor that promotes its use generally, as well as he uses the diet in treating his patients I believe. (just click the link =) ) Another great resource is the subforums over on reddit, i.e. www.reddit.com/r/keto or some of the related forums you can reach from there. 

colormist: 
So peanuts have fructose as well. Well, that explains a lot of my own binges on them. Do you have a resource that lists nuts that HFIs can eat? I personally love nuts and peanuts, so having to give them up entirely would be such a bummer.

[colormist]

My gallbladder was completely full of sludge, stones, and was to the point of breaking (there were cracks in the lining). They did a Hida scan to see how my gallbladder was performing, and it was functioning at 4%. Anything under 35% and they usually recommend removing the gallbladder. My mom and her sister have both had their gallbladders removed. My sister is reporting symptoms of gallstones. I think poorly functioning gallbladders are just common in my family. All the cheese we're fond of doesn't help, either. I did try to drink lemon juice to flush out the gallbladder, but apparently there's WAY more fructose in lemon juice than just lemons. That was the first time in a long time that I have had to empty the contents of my stomach.

I was on the diet for a few months in preparation for my brother's wedding. I had been on it in the past (pre-HFI diagnosis) without too much issue, but the added fructose from all the veggies I was eating was causing increased nausea. If I didn't dislike meat so much, I would consider going back on the diet. Fish makes me nauseated just thinking about it and I find meat to be generally revolting. I'm quite certain my apprehension towards meat comes from being exposed to far too many mutilated and rotting animal corpses while growing up on a farm. I do much better with meat if I don't have to prepare it myself and if it doesn't have any bones or fat--or really anything that reminds me that it might have been up and walking around just a few weeks ago.

Sadly, all nuts have fructose in them--some more than others. I do miss them and will occasionally overlook some almond slices in a dish.

[susan]

Regarding high cholesterol:
Here is my plan.
I will be more serious about my physical exercise. I will be more serious about staying with skimmed milk products. I confess, organic butter from grass fed cows, for me, is like chocolate to others. I will use less. I will try non flushing niacin along with my regular vitamin routine. I will keep my good cholesterol up.

I will take medications for cholesterol as a last resort, because I already take medications for low thyroid, ADD and anxiety.

[colormist]

That sounds like a good plan, Susan! Now you really make me want to try this butter you mentioned. I'm a recent convert of Land 'o Lakes butter, but I would love to try other kinds. I do try to use the lower-fat version of the butter, but it doesn't taste as good.